Cookie Thief
by SuperApplenana
Summary: Kids fight over the darndest things when it comes down to it, and sometimes, something good comes out of it.


"Who ate the last cookie?"

That was the question that struck despair into the children's hearts.

All the children turned in their seats to look at one another, trying to see who the culprit was. After a few minutes of no one speaking up, the teacher asked the class of preschoolers once more. "Who ate the last cookie? You better fess up or everyone gets time out."

And that's when hell broke loose. All the little five to six, maybe even a seven year old or two that managed to get stuck back, began pointing fingers at each other. All that was heard was jumbles of "He/she did it!" "I saw him/her do it, I know, I saw 'em!" and various other things that were unintellgable.

All went quite, though, when one of the more usually unnoticable kids, Arthur Kirkland, stood up in his chair and pointed his little stubby fingers at Ivan Braginski, one of the older kids held back in the class.

Really.. A small boy with scruffy blonde hair, square framed glasses and missing two teeth in the front so when he spoke he had a lisp.. Against a taller, silver-haired, cold eyed boy that rarely ever talked and who might as well have been a high school football player compared to half of the kids.

"It was Ivan, he was the last one to touch the cookie jar! He did it, I swear! " He struggled to let it all out and took a deep breath before he talked again. "Now we all know, so you can throw him in the brig!" Arthur huffed and sat back down in his seat. He'd never been in trouble, and wasn't going to start being a delinquent anytime soon!

Ivan /had/ to have been the one to do it. He was the only one besides maybe Alfred that could even reach the jar on the shelf.

Ivan stood up and defended himsel. "I-I.. No, no! It wasn't me, I promise! " This was the most words the class had ever heard out of him, and well.. Maybe they'd actually believe him.

"Nuh uh, it was you! I saw!"

"No you didn't, you were too busy drawing!"

"Was not! I saw you sticking your grubby hands inside the jar! Ask Mattie, he never lies."

The poor boy who Arthur had called out, Matthew, just shrunk down in his seat even farther and hugged his stuffed bear. A cookie fight was nothing he wanted to be a part of.

"I'm not gettin' in trouble because you're being a big, fat liar. You better tell the truth or I'll make you." He got up out of his chair and puffed his chest out, trying to seem bigger than he actually was. That only lasted so long before Ivan stood up in his chair, only a two desks away from Arthur and walked over to him.

"I'd like to see you try, four eyes." He sounded threatening, easily overshadowing Arthur who'd already sat back down in his seat, shaking, and avoiding all eye contact with the bigger boy.

"Alright, Alright little ones, " The teacher spoke up and addressed the class, breaking the aggression of a soon to be fight. "Everyone head outside to play, and no fighting or you'll be sent home early with a note to your parents." All the children headed outside to play on the slide, or swing on the swings, or play ball. Even Arthur and Ivan went outside, but stayed their distances for the most part.

Ivan sat against the wall, like he usually did. This time, he looked more upset than usual. No one noticed. They were all kids, and most of them would rather hit each other in the groins with the bouncy balls and fall over laughing as they did, or stay away from the boys as much as they could because they didn't want to catch 'boy cooties'.. Whatever the heck that was.

Bah, Arthur had better things to do than act like those imbeciles. He got on a swing and kicked his feet, managing to get a few swings in before noticing Ivan. The poor lad was sitting all by himself, and looked... mad..? Sad..? he didn't know quite yet, but he was feeling a little guilty. Like it was his fault, and maybe it was..

He put his feet down on the sand and skidded to a halt on the swing. Fixing his glasses and tidying off his shirt, Arthur walked over to Ivan. He was cautious at first, and when he got closer, his heart seemed to drop. "I'm not a liar, I'm not a liar.." Ivan was muttering to himself.

Arthur was about to say something before he spoke again. "No one believes the 'big, scary guy'.. I'll never have friends.."

"I'll be your friend." At that, Ivan looked up and seemed hopeful until he realized who it was.

"You lied and said I stole cookies, but I didn't and you called me the liar. We'd be best friends, da?" He was being sarcastic of course, something Arthur picked up on pretty easy since he did it so often, and usually got griped at for it.

Arthur looked down in shame and glanced at him over the rim of his glasses. "I'm sorry.. You're just so tall and I thought you did it 'cause you can reach it.. But I take it back, and I'll be your friend!"

"Fine, I forgive you. But you tell teacher when we go back inside." And at that, Arthur gave him a big toothless grin and sat down next to them, playing for the remainder of the break time.

Little did they know they wouldn't have to confess because Alfred F Jones, the star kid of the class (Or so he thought he was ), broke down out of guilt and confessed to the teacher. He thought Ivan and Arthur would really fight and felt bad, but didn't want to seem like a loser in front of the other kids for stealing a cookie. As punishment he was now sitting in the classroom as still as could be while he watched the other kids laugh and have fun.

At least the day turned out well for two newly found friends.


End file.
